Griffon Hatching

"Your Highness, perhaps you should come take a look at this!" Ladyl burst into Roland's tent early in the morning, his voice full of excitement.

"Oh?" Roland's interest was immediately piqued.

"Jiji ji~" Pushing open the ajar tent flap, Roland saw five small griffons crawling around in a nest made of straw. Their brown bodies, white heads, and flailing yellowish-brown wings looked incredibly cute, bearing no resemblance to their fierce future appearance! Having just opened their eyes, they were curious about everything. Upon seeing Roland push open the door, the little griffons weren't shy at all. Instead, they propped themselves up, came to the edge of the nest, and opened their mouths, chirping for food.

"Lord Ladyl, they've actually hatched? Isn't the timing off?" Roland recalled that griffons typically took at least four weeks to hatch. These had hatched in less than two weeks, making Roland suspect his griffons were fakes...

"Heh heh, I spent two weeks on the way here..." Ladyl said with a chuckle, stroking his beard.

"Oh, that explains it!" Roland suddenly understood.

"Your Highness should start considering training griffon knights and putting the search for their suitable riders on the agenda," Ladyl said, looking at Roland with admiration and a heart full of relief.

"Yes, it's time to think about griffon knights," Roland mused. After all, it was best to start training griffons with their knights from a young age. Griffons were very loyal magical beasts; they usually only recognized their first master or the offspring entrusted to them. Throughout their hundreds of years of life, they would follow their original master into battle and life, and after their master's death, they would accompany the master's offspring, fighting and living with them until their own death. Therefore, a single griffon could typically establish an aerial knight family lineage for hundreds of years. This meant the selection of riders for these five griffons needed to be rigorous. Although the people and soldiers under his rule were currently one hundred percent loyal to Roland, once his territory expanded and his responsibilities grew, that might not be the case!

It's worth mentioning here that the Lagrangians, like the Númenóreans, had long lifespans, though slightly shorter than the Númenóreans, living for two to three hundred years. Thus, barring any unforeseen circumstances, one griffon would be sufficient for three generations of an aerial knight's family.

"Caslo!" Roland found Caslo feeding the wyverns. The moment Caslo looked up, he saw Roland approaching him with a cheerful, uninhibited stride.

"My lord! Did something good happen?" Caslo immediately noticed the excitement plastered on Roland's face.

"The griffons have hatched, and we can start looking for their riders," Roland said happily.

"That's great news! In a year, we'll have five griffon knights ready to go! Finally, I won't have to guard the sky all by myself," Caslo sighed with relief.

"As a wyvern knight, you should be able to train griffon knights, right?" Roland scrutinized Caslo from head to toe.

"My lord, you're underestimating me... Except for dragon knights, training other aerial knights is a piece of cake!" Caslo bristled. In the specialized field of aerial combat, Caslo answered to no one but dragon knights. Who dared claim superiority over him? Had they not experienced the despair of a wyvern charging head-on?

"So confident? As far as I know, Holy Pegasus Knights are no weaker than Wyvern Knights..." Roland suddenly said softly.

"What the heck! My lord, Holy Pegasi have been extinct for how many years? How can creatures whose bones have turned to dust still exist?" Caslo immediately protested. The divine attribute of the Holy Pegasus made them comparable to wyverns, but the small population base was a fatal flaw. They eventually drove themselves to extinction, mainly because wild Holy Pegasi were too scattered; they might never encounter another of the opposite sex in their lifetime...

"You know, it's quite possible that Holy Pegasus Knights might return in the future," Roland said with a mysterious smile. He believed that with the system, he should... probably be able to gain the allegiance of Holy Pegasus Knights.

"Uh..." Caslo scratched his head, offering no opinion.

"Alright, go and select suitable candidates from the children of our people," Roland assigned the task to Caslo, as it was a time-consuming endeavor.

After dismissing Caslo, Roland prepared to find something to do. He then realized that he had forgotten to sign in when Old Man Ladyl had woken him up so early. He could only stand in the military camp and sign in.

"System, sign in!"

"Sign-in successful! Congratulations to the host for obtaining Conscript Light Infantry * 500."

"Holy cow! That's amazing!" Roland was startled. The sudden appearance of a reward of 500 troops stunned him. After all, Roland had only brought 500 men to the Battle of Lonely Mountain. This reward was like a full resurrection!

"Wait? Conscript Light Infantry? Seriously! System, can you change it? Even 100 Swift River Infantry would be better..." Roland's face fell as he read the details.

What exactly were Conscript Light Infantry? To put it nicely, they were hastily recruited light infantry. To put it bluntly, they were militia... If Swift River Infantry were cannon fodder, these guys could only be considered human obstacles on the battlefield. They lacked combat experience, and their weapons and equipment were abysmal... Of course, what expectations could one have for ordinary people recruited in an emergency?

As Roland was contemplating this, a sentry on the city wall suddenly reported a large wave of refugees heading towards the city. Immediately, several knights rode out to intercept and scout. (Thanks to the military camp being built next to the east city wall, the city garrison could quickly ascend the wall or ride out to intercept.)

"Giddy up!" The knights who had just ridden out returned at a gallop.

"Your Highness! They are the Empire's Conscript Light Infantry! I can't believe there are still organized Imperial Conscript soldiers wandering out there!" The knight appeared very surprised.

"Boom!" With a series of chaotic clashing sounds, the Conscript Light Infantry finally knelt before Roland on one knee. Roland's mouth twitched. These guys were even worse than those in games! What were these in front of him? They were hardly soldiers! What was the difference between them and armed refugees? No wonder the sentries mistook them for a refugee tide...

Roland carefully examined the Conscript Light Infantry before him, his face showing disappointment. Firstly, their armor. Forget iron armor; they didn't even have leather armor... Good heavens, they were practically running around naked in cloth! They were poorer than Azog's Orc legions. Their weapons were also scarce; apart from a 60-centimeter iron short sword, they had no other weapons...

Roland couldn't help but look up at the sky. They had truly taken "light equipment" to the extreme! What level of light equipment was this? In his memory, light infantry at least had leather armor, a helmet, a long sword, and a round leather shield...

On this day, Roland felt the system's malice and understood that the gap between light equipment could be so vast...

This is the last update of 2021. Wishing all book friends a Happy New Year, all the best, and prosperity. Please also give us more recommendation votes, considering that Ganxia is updating on New Year's Eve.